


Lyme Disease

by AWillfullDroll



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, Storage for mind ticks, Various One Shots
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-17
Updated: 2021-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-08 05:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21470830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AWillfullDroll/pseuds/AWillfullDroll
Summary: Various one shots from little Ideas that burrow in and won't come out, like ticks... and Lyme Disease. Most are Rayllum, with variable ratings.
Relationships: Callum & Soren (The Dragon Prince), Callum/Rayla (The Dragon Prince), Claudia & Soren (The Dragon Prince)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 40





	1. Anniversary

Calllum sighed. It felt like the millionth time he had sat in the grass, sketching the aged tombstone. Time had nearly worn away the name, but he remembered it. It’s not like he could have forgotten, even if he tried. It wasn’t the only tombstone that he sketched, but it was the one he had drawn the most. Two-thousand, five hundred and eighty-seven times, he had drawn this particular tombstone.

There were others that he routinely visited, drawing them. There were the monuments and statues that he visited to draw as well. All loved ones he had lost. He ran an aged hand through his white hair, he could truly say that he lost more than anybody who had ever lived. His choices had cost him everybody he had loved, and he couldn’t forget.

There were times that he wished that he could forget everything, then he wouldn’t have to live with the guilt and regret. But then he remembered the good times. They seemed so long ago, but they were what got him through days like today.

The person marked by this stone was the first he had lost, but she had been one of the more painful by far. Mostly because they were young and hadn’t fully realized what they were getting into, either of them. He had expected to pass long before her, being a human, but the two had eventually come to realize that the star arcanum had rubbed off on him far more than expected.

So it was that Rayla passed away as an old elf, white hair, wrinkles, teeth falling out at the ripe old age of three-hundred and forty-five. Callum still appeared in his early to mid twenties. By the time that the last of their descendants that had met her died, he only looked in his early thirties. With his first grey hairs, came being such a distant ancestor to his descendants that he had virtually no contact. Today, he couldn’t tell you the name of a single living relative, because he didn’t know any of them.

Oh, he had long been drawing the monuments of King Harrow, Queen Sarai, and King Ezran. Every year on the anniversary of their passing. But drawing the tombstones and monuments of Rayla and their children always stung. Yet he continued to do it.

Callum sighed again. He usually started at sunrise and finished a sketch by noon, but today, today he was tired. It was nearly one, and he was sleepy. He rearranged himself to sit up against the tombstone of his long dead wife, he closed his eyes and fell asleep. Part of him was hoping that this was the last time, the last drawing of a loved one’s final rest.


	2. Idiots (rated M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Callum and Rayla discover that they have raised a couple of idiots.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> M rating  
Warning:Implied incest

Callum and Rayla froze as their eyes met. So many emotions and memories, good and bad swirled together. They tuned out what their child was saying to them, as it had been twenty-five years since they last saw each other, and each of them could feel their emotion boil over. They two steps towards each other before their surprised looks gave way to loathing.

“Horse’s ass!”

“Flat-chested skank!”

“Two-pump chump!”

“Loose bitch!”

Micro dicked pervert!”

“Trashy slut!”

“Prolapsed Anus!”

“Wrinkled Prune!”

“Old fucking fart!”

Shit face!”

“Asshat!”

Tiadrin and Harrow watched the two fight. “Well,” Harrow said, “I guess our parents already know each other.”

“Yeah. We should probably stop them.”

“Oooorrrrr…”

“What do you have in mind, love?” Tiadrin sighed.

“Maybe if we let them fight a little, your dad won’t try and fry me to a crisp, for… You know.”

“I do,” Tiadrin smiled coyly as she grabbed Harrow’s hand and set it over her abdomen. “And your mom may not try to kill me for taking her son away. But its always best to just rip the bandage off!”

“Yeasty cunt!” spat Callum.

“Neutered fuck!” bristled Rayla.

“Mom! Would you and Tiadrin’s dad stop fighting?!”

“Yeah, Dad, I would appreciate it,” added Tiadrin.

“Ha! See! I raised Tiadrin better! She’s actually polite!” snarled Callum.

“Yeah?! Well, Harrow is charitable! Asking us is we would stop fighting!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Harrow and Tiadrin yelled simultaneously, causing Callum and Rayla glower at the two of them.

“We wanted to introduce you two to each other because we’re getting married,” Harrow said, making Callum’s and Rayla’s faces blanche.

“What? No, no, no, no. Harrow, you cannot marry Tiadrin.”

“Well, considering that we’re in love and I’m pregnant, we prob-” Tiadrin began.

“You’re what?!” Callum shrieked.

“Pregnant, Dad. See when a man and a woman love each other very much-”

“No, no, no, no, no, no. You two have got to go see a healer immediately,” Rayla started, only to be interrupted by Harrow.

“Mom! How could you even suggest such a thing?! That’s your grandchild! I get that you some how know Tiadrin’s Dad, and that you don’t like him, but-”

“Look at each other!” demanded Callum. “How can you not see why you two is a problem?”

“What I see, Dad, is a handsome who cares deeply about me.” Tiadrin said strainedly.

“He has five fingers, brown hair, and no markings. How many moonshadow elfs have five fingers, no markings, and brown hair?!” Callum asked.

“Harrow, just look at Tiadrin. How many humans have five fingers, white hair and moonshadow facial markings?!” inquired Rayla

“Okay, why do you two know each other, and what in the flying fuck are you trying to say?” Tiadrin demanded.

“We were married.” Callum and Rayla replied.

Callum looked to Rayla before turning back his daughter. “We met when we were young, and got married as soon as we were allowed to. But once we were living together, we found out that we couldn’t stand small things about the other.”

“The way the other ate or snored, but we tried to make it work. Then I got pregnant,” Rayla continued. “We struggled along with the marriage for nearly two years after I gave birth, but then we gave into the inevitability. Our relationship was dead, but we loved you both so much-”

“Wait-” Tiadrin interrupted.

“So we each took one of you, to raise on our own,” finished Callum.

“Woah, woah! Hold on! For fuck’s sake, what in the fuck are you two saying?” Harrow asked.

“You’re siblings.” Callum defeatedly replied.

“Twins to be exact.” Rayla added, staring at the ground.

“So?” asked Harrow.

“So?! If you knocked up your sister, Harrow, that child is going to look all kinds of fucked up!” Callum tried explained.

“Oh grow up Dad! You are always so over protective!” Tiadrin growled.

“No, you two, it is a basic fact. It’s called inbreeding!” Rayla growled. “The four of us should really go see a healer, like right now.”

“Mom! Fuck no!” shouted Harrow before he turned to Tiadrin, “Tia, can we go? I don’t think either of them will see reason, at least for a while.”

“Yeah,” Tiadrin sighed, “We both really expected better from you two! You can write to us when you get over this whole ‘sibling thing’. We didn’t grow up with each other, we didn’t even know each other before two months ago. Since we don’t feel like sibling, its not incest.”

Callum and Rayla both collapsed into chairs as they watched their children walk away. Their silence, only grew uncomfortable after ten minutes.

“Well, I guess we both failed at parenting,” Callum murmured, still looking down at his hands.

“Yep.” Rayla curtly.

“Fuck, we both managed to raise idiots.”

“To be fair, I think the dumbest sperm in your balls and dumbest eggs in my ovaries managed to find each other,” Rayla replied.

“Rayla,” Callum paused, before letting out a sigh. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier. You aren’t a flat chested skank or slut.”

“I know. I’m also sorry, Callum. You aren’t a two-pump chump, and you most definitely do not possess a micro phallus.”

“Hey, Rayla?” Callum asked he picked his head up and found Rayla’s gaze meeting his.

“Yeah, Callum?” Rayla asked, as she leaned closer to Callum.

“Do you- do you maybe- uh…”

“Make another kid or two?” Rayla smirked.

“Yeah.” Callum replied breathily.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Get those pants off and that giant horse dick of yours out!”


	3. Spectre (M)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Soren interrogates Claudia and confronts here with all her misdeeds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So between my now former job, online classes, and lack of leaving house, my creativity has been drained out of me like a chupacabra victim. I got suddenly inspired and managed to complete this. Maybe posting this will give the oomph I need for other stuff, I have eight other chapters and stories in the tube that are all half done.  
This installation of Lyme disease is rated M for torture. And gore.

Soren was stunned. He watched as Rayla cradled the lifeless body of his friend. It wasn’t enough that Claudia stuck by their father, it wasn’t enough that she killed General Amaya. No, she had to kill Callum, too. Leave his daughter and child alone in the world. She had to kill his friend.

_My sister_, he thought sadly before he felt anger rise up. _No, this isn’t my sister. This is a wretched hag, a vile bitch who will pay for this with her life, her husband’s life, and her father’s life_.

“Where are they?!” Soren growled as he turned his head to face the _thing _that had taken over Claudia body. The wrinkled gray skin, white hair, and black-eyed hag, safely encased in ice. Callum’s last act.

“I’ll never tell you!” Claudia spat back.

“Then I will cut you into little pieces,” said calmly stated as he drew a dagger from his boot and approached the hag.

Claudia stood there, staring him down smugly. “Oh, Sore-Sore. I know you,” she said sweetly. “You dropped your weapon after you killed dad’s illusion. You most certainly wouldn’t harm your sister. Your… Pregnant sister.”

“You’re are not Claudia. You are a hag, a tumor, a disease. And if you don’t think I will do whatever it takes to save my remaining friends, you are mistaken.”

Soren took glee is the widening of Claudia’s pupils as he gently set the knife against her cheek. The only sounds were that of Claudia’s panicked breathing, his controlled breaths and Rayla’s sobs.

“Aaravos will come for me, as surely as I am carrying his child.” Claudia replied stoutly.

“Let’s test that theory, shall we?” Soren growled before swiped the blade down her cheek. Drawing a choked gasp, and blood, from Claudia.

Soren slowly turned to face the forest behind him and shouted, “Well! I’m waiting Aaravos! I’ll kill the mother of your child, not kidding!” He finished his taunt and faced his sister again, waiting for nearly a minute.

“Guess he’s not coming.”

“Fuck you Soren!”

“You are disposable to him, and Dad! Just like I was! A tool to be used and thrown away, in case, a a pet whore!”

“You’re wrong, Sore-Sore, you have to be.”

“Don’t call me that, I am Claudia’s brother, and my sister died a long time ago. You’re just the parasite that inhabits her body.” Soren said coldly before switching the dagger to his other hand. He gently stroked her cheek for a moment, before pausing by the cut he made.

“I would say that I won’t enjoy this, but you killed Ezran’s son, you killed Queen Zubeia, General Amaya, my girlfriend and our newborn daughter, and now you’ve killed Callum. So, I will enjoy this.” Soren stated with a cruel glint in his eyes, before he slid two fingers into the cut and began to pull.

Claudia screamed in pain as Soren slipped more his finger into the wound and dug his nails in. Nearly a minute passed before he felt her teeth on the backs of his fingers. All it took was another thirty second before it started peeling and he could use a second hand.

Soren sheathed the dagger and screamed as he used both of his hands to pull. Claudia screams nearly matched his as he felt more and more given until something snapped and he fell to the ground. It was only a few moments for him to pick himself up and dust his armor off, as he looked at the hag that dared to go by his sister’s name.

He examined her while her screams slowly died in volume. One eyelid was completely gone, along with three quarters of her skin in general. Soren had expected to feel something, but in truth, he felt nothing. Not joy even or guilt.

“Tell me where they are, Claudia, and I give you something you didn’t show Callum. Mercy.”

“There. Is. No. Mercy. Monster.” Claudia gasped in pain.

“You tortured him with illusions until he clawed his own eyes out, Claudia. What I’ve done is merciful in comparison.”

Claudia sobbed for a few minutes before Soren redrew the dagger and set just above her eye.

“Tell me, and I’ll cut your throat. Refuse, and I’ll do worse, hag!”

Claudia cried; the salty tears stung as they hit her exposed flesh. The point of the blade was hovering above her eye, and she was panicking. Her husband and father had deserted her. After all the horrible things she had done for them, they justified all of it, by telling her that they loved her. They were the only one’s who loved her. And they weren’t here.

“Okay, okay.” She acquiesced. Just desiring a quick death and not a prolonging of the torture that she was just a tool. Just another set of holes for Aaravos to fill, even though she was carrying his child.

“They were hiding out in Evenere, I was supposed to meet them in Silvergrove in a month’s time.”

“Good,” replied Soren, as he removed the blade. Claudia quickly felt a stinging sensation on her throat. She gasped, only to feel something hot and wet pour down her throat. She choked and gurgled for a few seconds before she faded into darkness.

Soren looked to Rayla. She was still cradling Callum head, her tears were starting wash away some of the blood on his face. He froze for a moment, as he saw an image of Callum knelling beside her. A hand on her shoulder, and another clasped over one of hers. The spectre look at him and rose. It bent down to kiss the top of Rayla’s head before approaching Soren.

Callum looked just like he had. Alive and healthy, though see through. The spectre looked at Soren, and he understood it’s wordless question. “I’ll take of them, Callum. Viren and Aaravos will be stopped, and I’ll look after Rayla and Sarai. You have my oath, Callum.” He promised the spectre, who gave him a sad smile and a look of thanks, before disappearing. Leaving Soren in a field with a dead friend, a grieving friend, and a dead hag encased in ice. For the first time in a while, Soren felt completely alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, been stuck inside so long I think my emotions are broke. Writing that last paragraph actually made me cry a little, unless that got someone else to tear up a little.


	4. Sealed Fate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rayla returns to Katolis to find that Callum is not as she remembered, or hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, first piece of work since post 12 Days of Smutness burnout.  
I hope you enjoy.

The massive door to the throne creaked open, drawing Ezran’s attention, as Soren stepped in front of him. A hand on his sword. It was the middle of the night, with moonlight streaming through the windows. The meeting between him and his captain of the crownguard, and friend. No one else knew about it, not given the current situation with Neolandia and the suspected treason.

“Who goes there?!”

“Hello, Soren, Ezran.” Called out a familiar voice as a female moonshadow elf materialized in front of them.

“State your name, village, and purpose. Or you will be arrested.”

“Rayla, Silvergrove, I’m here to see Callum.”

“Right,” Soren scoffed “And my father and sister weren’t traitors.”

“No, really Soren, it’s me. I-I know it’s been a long time but, “

“You’ve grown,” Ezran remarked as came out from behind Soren. “You look, good Rayla.”

“I could say the same about you, Ezran.”

“King Ezran,” Soren growled, emphasizing Ezran’s title. A furious look in his eyes as his face hardened into a scowl.

“Soren look…I-uh, I’m sorry, about your sister. And your dad. I swear I tried to give them a chance to surren-” Rayla stammered.

“That’s not what this is about.”

Ezran winced as he heard the venom in Soren’s tone.

“Soren-”

“No,” Soren snapped, “It _is_ her fault that Callum is-”

“Enough, Soren! You know my brother’s wishes as well as I do.”

“He can’t protect himself! It’s our turn to protect him!” Soren insisted, practically shouting as he pointed at Rayla. Like she was something they needed to protect Callum from.

Ezran’s eyes hardened before he spoke again. “You are dismissed for the night, Soren.”

“Ezran, I-”

“Good night, Captain.” Ezran growled through gritted teeth.

Soren’s face hardened and jaws visibly clenched, “As you wish, King Ezran.”

The ensuing silence was only disturbed by the sound of clanking foot falls as Soren exited the chamber, and the creaking of the door as it shut behind the Captain of the Crownguard.

“Please, forgive Soren. He’s just doing what he thinks is best for Callum, even if it is misguided.”

“Why would Soren feel the need to defend Callum? He never did before.”

“Callum… He told everything, one night.” Ezran replied hesitantly. “That he found you and met your fiancé. How he talked about you behind your back, how he had called you ‘nothing but a warm body to fuck’. Callum told us how you two had sex the night before your wedding, and how he woke up to another note. He… He wasn’t the same after that. Callum was heartbroken.”

“Was?” Rayla asked, fear rising up in her. Afraid that he had moved on. While she had always hoped that he was happy, the idea now that he was happy without her, and had replaced her was nearly paralyzing. And that realization in and of itself was terrifying. If some part of her had known, all along what Orion was and just hoped that Callum would remain hung up on her and unable to find happiness. Because that meant that Callum was always second choice to Orion, and there was no competition between the two. Callum was hands down better.

“Is,” Ezran corrected himself, as Rayla felt most of the apprehension melt from her. But some seemed to sink deep into to hurt, wrapping itself around her heart like a snake. Threatening to constrict itself around her heart if she didn’t see the object of her desire soon.

“Would… Would it be alright to see him now?”

“Yeah,” Ezran replied softly. “He’s usually up on full moons like this. Come on.”

For a second time in a very short time, Rayla found herself plunged into an uncomfortable silence, as Ezran guided her to Callum’s room. She was glad when Ezran opened his mouth to speak, though once she heard the words, her excitement faded.

“So… Your husband. Where is he?” Ezran asked.

“Don’t know, don’t care. Callum warned about him, and I didn’t listen. He was worse than Callum said.”

“What happened?”

“I woke up one day,” Rayla began, “and he said that he wanted to start a harem since I was bearing him children. Stupid shit didn’t realize that I was taking my tea every day. And it was like I woke up from a dream. I don’t know why I chose Orion over Callum. Callum is better by every and any measure than him.”

“Rayla, I-um- I have to ask, why are you here?”

“Ezran, I-I… I love your brother. I never stopped. At the very least, want to be a friend to him, better than one I had been.”

“At the most?”

Rayla blushed as thoughts ran through her mind in rapid succession. “Start dating again, maybe get married and have a kid or two.”

“I hope that you can have that, Rayla.” Ezran said as he stopped in front of a door and cracked peaking his head in. “Callum, you awake?”

Rayla didn’t hear anything but Ezran pulled back and nodded at her. “Go on in, he’s awake.”

“Callum?” Rayla quietly asked the figure sitting in a chair, on the balcony. He was bathed in moonlight, A silver glow reflecting off of his blue jacket.

“Yes?” came a calm whisper in reply from the brown mop of hair. His voice was deeper than when they had last spoken, but still recognizable as his.

“Callum, it’s- it’s me. It’s Rayla.”

Silence greeted her for a few seconds, followed by the distant calls of a few early rising birds. 

“So, you came back.” Callum’s voice resonated into the room and echoing into the night. He never moved from his chair as he spoke. Hearing him speak more, made Rayla realize that something was wrong. He sounded bored, not excited, almost as if this was happening again.

“Y-yes. I-I’m sorry, Callum.”

“Why have you come back?”

I made a mistake, all those years ago. I should have gone with you. I wi-”

“No,” Callum’s voice echoed through the chamber again. “You made your choice Rayla, and it was the right one.”

“No.” Rayla countered as she walked closer to Callum before stopping. “Orion was… Orion was abusive. You were right. He did mistreat me, and I- he… He never laid a hand on me, but he played me like a fiddle with his words. He broke me before I realized it, and I wallowed in self-pity and regret for a few years. I only gathered the courage to leave him after he tried to talk me into letting him have a harem.”

Callum remained silent, as tears strained at Rayla’s eyes, seeking to escape her control. “I-I wanted to say that I am sorry, that I didn’t believe you, that I didn’t leave with you… That I lead you on. I was hoping we might be able to give us another chance. A real chance. Even just as friends. Please, Callum.”

His silence stung, worse than when Orion told that she wasn’t enough, the first time. I t hurt almost as much as the first time she caught her now ex-husband cheating on her. Rayla knelt beside the chair, as tears began falling. “Please, Callum, just say… something. Anything! I’m begging you, Callum!”

“Sure.” Callum replied, his voice the same monotonous, bored tone as before.

“Are- are you mocking me?”

“No.”

“I-I still love you, you know. Do you?”

“Do I what?”

Rayla swallowed and sniffed. _I deserve this. Callum making me put everything on the line before he does. After what I put him through with running off, then pledging to get married to a man I didn’t really love, just to run away from my fears. Worse, I led him on after that, sleeping with him the night before my wedding and…_

Rayla shook her head, sending tears flying as she pulled herself out of the all too familiar spiral. “I love you, Callum, with all my heart. Always have, always will. Do you still love me?”

“No.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll show you the ground soon. For now, just enjoy hanging to the cliff.


End file.
